The stock shield does nothing for me style-wise. I think it hinders the looks of the bike. And after about a thousand total miles of riding and fiddling with that "vent," to no noticeable avail, I figured out how to make the V-Stream work and ditched the stocker. (Well, I didn't ditch it, I'll post it for sale in case anyone needs one.)
For me, the V-Stream has been the best combination of style, comfort, wind-protection and noise reduction of any windshield on any bike I've owned--and I've owned a bunch of them. And I'll say this for the beautiful Connie. I think it is the best sport-touring motorcycle out there--and I've owned or ridden pretty much all of them. I really, really like this bike and highly recommend it to anyone interested in stepping into this genre.